U.S. citizens complained about the dictatorial decree and squirreled away their gold in safe-deposit boxes, while litigating (unsuccessfully) that Congress had abrogated their inalienable rights.15 Mary Meeker, a recently unemployed fifty-one-year-old single woman, sent a latter dated April 30, 1933, to the New York Times, summarizing the complaint: I was frugal in the use of my earnings, and what I managed to save … amounted to about $31,000.00 … A few months ago I became very much disturbed over the financial situation in this country and decided to withdraw my money from savings banks,
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